Intellectual property

This morning (November 6 2018), the LEGO Group announced a favourable decision against Shantou Meizhi Model Co., Ltd. and three other defendents,who have made copies of LEGO brand sets, and distributed them under the LEPIN name. As well as being ordered to cease and desist production and promotion of the infringing products, the defendants have been ordered to pay the LEGO Group RMB 4.5 million as damages. Whilst the penalty of $AUD901125/$USD649528 may not be a knockout blow, the cease and desist order might be more useful in keeping the production of inferior quality copies of fan favourite sets.

In recent weeks,I have certainly noticed an increased promotion of clone sets in my social media newsfeed , and it will be interesting to see how this new ruling will affect such advertising for LEPIN’s resellers.